The Bridgeport Public Library will be participating in National Library Week from April 12-18, 2015.  The theme this year is "Unlimited possibilities @ your library®." 

 

National Library Week was first celebrated in 1958 and is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.

 

In the mid-1950s, research showed that Americans were spending less on books and more on radios, televisions and musical instruments. Concerned that Americans were reading less, the ALA and the American Book Publishers formed a nonprofit citizens’ organization called the National Book Committee in 1954. The committee's goals were ambitious.   They ranged from "encouraging people to read in their increasing leisure time" to "improving incomes and health" and "developing strong and happy family life."

 

In 1957, the committee developed a plan for National Library Week based on the idea that once people were motivated to read, they would support and use libraries. With the cooperation of ALA and with help from the Advertising Council, the first National Library Week was observed in 1958 with the theme "Wake Up and Read!"  National Library Week was observed again in 1959, and the ALA Council voted to continue the annual celebration.

 

The entire week is fine-free at your area libraries.  This is an opportunity to return overdue items to your library without a charge. 

          

 The Bridgeport Public Library is also holding a contest during the week based on the week’s theme, “Unlimited Possibilities@ Your Library.  Just answer the question on an index card: What are the possibilities at your library?  Each answer will be entered to win a $50.00 Amazon gift card.  The answers can range from the practical, learned how to plant a container garden, to imaginative, traveled to Narnia.  Just ask at either desk for a card.  A winning entry will be drawn on Monday, April 20th.